


A Different Gamble

by Midnightfire98



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Hades is a Good Parent, M/M, Percico - Freeform, Slow Burn, for once
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 21:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9923420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnightfire98/pseuds/Midnightfire98
Summary: Percy meets Nico and Bianca in the Lotus Casino and takes them out with him when he escapes. How will their stories change from this one chance meeting?





	1. The Lotus Casino

We stumbled out of the van and into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must’ve looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals we had released to pay us much attention.

We passed Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick.   
I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwhich and a glass of lemonade, make a new gameplan for getting west. 

We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air conditioning that smelled like flower- lotus blossoms, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I couldn't be sure. 

We walked inside and a bellhop, or at least I guessed he was a bellhop, came up to us. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. 

“Welcome to the Lotus Casino! Here’s your room key. Don't worry about anything, your bills been taken care of, Your room is on the top floor, number 4001, if you need or want anything at all, just call the front desk and we will get it to you.” 

He handed us brightly colored cards with the words LotusCash emblazoned across the side. “These will work at all the restaurants as well as the games and rides, we hope you will enjoy yourselves!” 

I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids. But I took the card and said, "How much is on here?" 

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?" 

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

And with that he spun around and moved away from us. We all looked at each other for a second before shrugging and heading towards the elevator.   
We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its 269 | Page own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..." 

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet." 

There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange. 

I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. Wouldn't need that anymore. When we left, I could just charge a new one at the hotel store. 

I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. In the back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me. I'd had a dream or something ... I needed to talk to my friends. But I was sure it could wait. 

I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel. 

"All those stations," I told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?" 

"It's interesting." 

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place." 

Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again. 

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?" 

Grover and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic LotusCash cards.

"Play time," I said. 

I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video. A five-star Vegas hotel? Forget it. 

I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing-where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it.

I was on my way to my third round of laser tag when a blur of black ran full force into my waist. I tumbled over backward with the weight of whatever it was that ran into me. When I recovered, I saw that sitting on my chest was a kid, no more than ten or eleven years old with black hair and olive skin. He looked Italian.   
He shook his head and sat up, looking around as though he was confused as to why he was no longer running. Then he saw he was still on top of me, and let out a little yelp and scrambled to get up. 

He helped me up off the ground and smiled at me sheepishly while I dusted myself off. He opened his mouth as though he was about to say something when we both heard a shout.

“NICO DI ANGELO GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!”

The boy started and started looking around frantically. “That’s my sister,” he said, not stopping his urgent search for a hiding spot, “she may or may not be trying to hunt me down and murder me.”

His eyes caught on a small space between two games that we were next to and he slipped between the two, almost disappearing in the shadows. His head popped out again and he looked out at me. 

“Please don't let her find me.” 

And with that, his head disappeared again, back into his little shadowy corner. 

He had just gotten in there when a fuming, and soaking wet, teenage girl that looked about my age stormed around the corner. When she saw me make eye contact with her she zeroed in on me and headed my way. She stopped just short of me and crossed her arms over her chest, giving me a glare that wasn't mean but was certainly suspicious.

“Hey, you, have you seen a kid run through here? About yay high,” she demonstrated the height of the boy with her hand, “black hair, a little brat?”

At first, I was going to help her, but the sight of her running through the hotel soaking wet was too funny to end, so instead I just said “Yeah, he ran into me. He just ran over towards the rollercoaster with all the loops in it.” 

The girl huffed out a short breath and thanked me and then ran off towards the roller coaster. The boy came out from his hiding place and smiled up at me.

“Thanks, man! Bianca would not be happy if she found me. Oh, my name's Nico by the way! Nice to meet you.”

The kid, Nico, was grinning up at me and bouncing around like he couldn't bear the thought of standing still, and I knew what that felt like. 

“I'm Percy. What did you do to her that she'd come after you like that, and why was she soaking wet?”

Nico started laughing, “well I may have decided that she was sleeping too long this morning, so I might have poured a water on her to wake her up.” 

I started laughing too, I had always wanted to do that to someone but had never had the chance. As our laughter died down after a minute or two, we heard Nico’s sister again, apparently, she had found out that he wasn't on the roller coaster. 

Nico grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. “If Bianca finds you, she’ll be mad that you tricked her. Come on, I know where we can hide.”   
And with that, the entire day dissolved into a constant game of hide and seek throughout the casino and hotel with Nico’s sister Bianca. After a couple hours, she finally caught both of us, more amused by our antics to get away from her than upset anymore. 

We all decided to go grab something to eat together in one of the many hotel restaurants. Nico tried to force us all into McDonald's but Bianca vetoed him very quickly. We all sat down at a pizza place and started talking about it lives. I told them that I was here at the hotel with my friends. I didn’t mention the fact that I had a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I should leave, why would I? It was awesome here. 

We were making plans to meet up tomorrow to hang out again when someone walking past us tripped and spilled his water all over me. A familiar rush of energy filled my body, and my mind sharpened suddenly. It was very rapid that I began to get worried, this hotel didn’t feel natural, and I knew it was dangerous. Nico and Bianca noticed my change in demeanor.

I motioned for them to follow me as I stood up and left the restaurant.

“Percy!,” Nico grabbed onto my arm to stop me, “What’s going on? What’s wrong with you? It’s just some water, we didn’t have to leave.”

“Yes we did Nico,” I replied, pulling them both along with me as I searched for Annabeth and Grover. “This hotel isn’t right, it isn’t safe.”

“What do you mean?” This time it was Bianca who grabbed my shoulder, pulling me to a stop and spinning me around. “Percy what is going on, you haven’t told us anything about why you're acting so weird so suddenly. 

I sighed, “Look, I really don’t have the time to explain right now, just trust me when I say that it is not safe here and we need to go. Come on, we need to find my friends. Once we are outside, I will tell you everything I promise.”

They seemed to be pacified by that, and let me lead them around, hunting for the other two. Anna Beth was still attached to her 3D sim game, but she had gone from a few buildings to a whole bustling city that put New York to shame.

I ran up to her and grabbed her arm and pulled her away, not giving her any time to protest. If this was a monster's nest, we'd be in danger soon. And we were. As we continued to run, looking for Grover, Nico and Bianca trying to explain what they knew of what had happened to Annabeth, I saw them. Large, bulky men in dark green blazers that looked like their favorite hobbies were punching kids and eating protein powder raw. They were scanning the whole arcade for something, I assumed that something was us.  
I remembered the last place I saw Grover, by the shooting games, so I directed everybody over there. As we got closer I saw him, shooting away at hunters in his game still, seemingly not having moved since I last saw him. I knocked the gun out of his hands and dragged him along. The security guards had seen us and we didn’t have the time to stop. As we ran through the lobby, both Annabeth and Grover were trying to resist, complaining about how I had ruined their games, but I kept an iron grip on their wrists as I dragged them forwards. 

We finally go to the front of the lobby, seemingly all the security in the entire place behind us. We shot past the doorman who smiled brightly and waved at us as we ran out onto the street. 

“We hope you enjoyed your stay at the Lotus Hotel and Casino!”

I looked behind us, but the security guards weren’t following us anymore. They had stopped at the doors, almost as if they couldn’t leave. We took a moment to catch our breaths as Grover and Annabeth slowly came back to their senses. 

“What happened?” Annabeth asked once she had shaken her head a few times, trying to shake loose any remaining cobwebs. “All I remember was walking into the hotel, going up to our room, and then… nothing.” 

Grover nodded in agreement, still a little winded from our mad dash through the hotel. It was Nico and Bianca that were the worst affected, they hadn’t had any demigod training so they were on the ground, trying to breathe, and at the same time glancing around them in wonder. 

I explained to Annabeth what had happened, all the way from when I first met Nico and Bianca, all the way to where water got spilled on me, and I forced us all to escape. As my story went on, Annabeth's face got grimmer. I had a feeling she knew what monster we had just run from, and by the look of her face, it wasn’t good. 

“Percy, what day is it?”

Her question kind of confused me, but I obliging looked around and grabbed the first newspaper I saw, and almost dropped it from shock. The date was June 20th, thankfully the same year, but five days later. I showed it to Annabeth, and she only nodded grimly, as though she was expecting this. 

“That was the lair of the Lotus Eaters, Odysseus faced them after the Trojan war. We are lucky we were able to escape. Their lair stops time for those inside. If we had stayed for what seemed like just another hour in their, we would have almost definitely missed the solstice. As it is we only have one day left until World War III breaks out.”


	2. Death Gods Deal New Cards

Chapter 2  
Death Gods Make New Deals

We all were letting that sink in, well, most of us at least. Nico and Bianca looked at us like we were nuts, which, I can’t really blame them for. I had just forcefully dragged them from paradise, out into the middle of the desert, and now we were talking about World War III. I would be a little freaked out as well. 

Grover finally seemed to recognize their presence fully and turned to look at them, probably try and explain what was going on, how he would do it to two mortals, I had no idea. He opened his mouth and was about to say something but instead, he snapped his mouth shut real quick and looked at the di Angelo’s as though they had just thrown him the worst surprise party in the world. 

He turned to me and Annabeth and motioned for us to come closer to him. “Percy, who are these kids?”  
His voice was trembling, it only did that when he was scared or it was enchilada day, and considering the fact that we were in the middle of the street in Vegas, I was going to go with the first one. 

“That’s Nico and Bianca di Angelo, I already told you guys, I met them in the casino, they were there when I came out of whatever trance we were in back there, and didn’t want to leave them there. Why?”

“They’re demigods, ” Grover said, getting antsier by the second, “and strong ones at that going by their scent, almost as strong as you are I would say.”  
Annabeth and I just stared at Grover. I didn’t really know how the whole smelly demigods thing worked, I know I took a shower only a little while ago, I shouldn’t smell that bad, should I? But if Grover said we smelled, all I could assume was that we did. I glanced over at Annabeth and her face was ashen.

“Grover,” Now Annabeth’s voice was shaky, and since I knew she didn’t love enchiladas as much as Grover, I knew it was because she was scared. “Is it the same level as… her?”  
I had no idea what they were talking about, but Grover nodded, and Annabeth got even more serious if that was even possible. 

“That means that they are probably-”

“don't!” Grover interrupted. “Don't say it. Talking about any of them can be very dangerous. We can ask Chiron when we get back.”

Grover might have spoken strongly, but he was shaking like a leaf and I recognized the look in his eyes as the same one he gave me on the bus from Yancy. He was terrified. 

We spent a few minutes trying to decide what to do, but it was eventually Annabeth that decided it for us. She hailed a Las Vegas taxi and we all piled in. Nico ended up sitting on mine and Bianca's laps. Annabeth sat up front and Grover next to Bianca on the other side of the taxi. Annabeth turned to the taxi driver who was giving us suspicious looks.

“Do you take casino debit cards?”

The guy turned back to her. “Some of ‘em. Works just like a regular debit card. I'd have to swipe it and see.”

She pulled out her LotusCash card and hands over to him. He ran the bright green card through his machine and the display lit up for a minute before finally showing the infinity symbol next to the dollar sign. The guy's eyes grew huge and his mouth hung wide open. 

“Wh- where to your majesty?”

Annabeth seemed to like that as she sat a little straighter and tilted her head up a little. “Los Angeles please, and if you get us there by tomorrow morning, you can keep the change.”

That might have been the wrong thing to say. The speedometer didn't drop below 95 the entire time we crossed the desert. As we went along, we decided that it was time Bianca and Nico learned what was going on fully, but we didn't want the cab driver to hear anything, so Grover explained it in whispered tones to Bianca, and I told Nico.

Now my response to being told that my parent was an all powerful god and that my life would be plagued with monsters, quests, and danger was disbelief. I didn't want to believe that my world changed that much at first. Nico, however, had no such reservations. 

“Your dads Poseidon!? That's so cool! Can he really do 3000 damage with his trident?

I had no idea what he was talking about. “Wha- I don't know what that means.” 

Nico looked scandalized and immediately set about telling me all about a card game that he played called Mythomagic. As he was explaining the basics of attack points, I saw Bianca sit back in her seat, apparently trying to absorb all that she had been told. 

I turned my attention to the excitable 10-year old I was sitting with and listened as he continued on talking about how turns affect the power of attacks and how figurines changed how cards worked, and a bunch of other rules. 

About four and a half hours later we reached Santa Monica, where I had been told to go by my dad. We all got out and stretched our legs. Annabeth thanked the cab driver and he nodded and sped off. 

We all walked down to the beach. Nico bounced around behind me asking if I was going to go surfing and if I was any good at surfing. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd never surfed in my life so I just laughed and kept walking. We got to the edge of the water where we stopped. 

I slipped off my socks and shoes and waded into the water. I was about knee deep when I turned back around. “I'll be back in a little bit. Try and explain the rest to them while I'm gone.”

Annabeth and Grover nodded and started to lead Bianca and Nico back from the water to talk. I turned back around and took a breath. Then I dived underneath the water.  
I tried to hold my breath for a while but finally, I couldn't do it anymore and let out a gasp, and air came rushing back in. I was stunned, I could breathe underwater. I felt something nudge my leg. I looked down and almost screamed. There was a five-foot-long mako shark. 

It wasn't attacking me, though, it was nuzzling me, heeling like a dog. I reached out and touched its dorsal fin and bucked up. So I grabbed hold of the fin and the shark shot off, carrying me along. It dropped me off at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sand dropped away to a massive chasm. It was like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon at night. Not being able to see much, but knowing that before you was a void. 

Then I saw something shimmering in the depths of the ocean. As I watched the light get brighter and larger, and gradually took shape. It was a woman, with flowing black hair and dress as green as seaweed. She was riding on a seahorse about the size of a stallion. When she got in front of me, she dismounted from the sea horse and it and the shark swam off to play what looked like tag. 

“You have done well, Perseus Jackson. You have come very far.”

I recognized her. “You're the woman from the Mississippi River, aren't you?”

She smiled at me. “Yes, I am, though it was difficult to appear so far up river. My freshwater sisters helped sustain me so that I could speak with you. They still respect and pay tribute to Poseidon though they do not serve in his court.”

“And you do?”

She nodded, “it has been some time since a child of the sea has been born. We have been watching over you eagerly.”

For some reason that made me mad, that this woman knew my father better than I did, that the whole sea had apparently been watching me with baited breath.  
“If my father is so interested in me,” I said, “then why isn't he here? Why doesn't he speak to me?”

The seawater around us turned cold very suddenly. 

“Do not be so quick to judge to the lord of the seas.” The nereid reprimanded me,” He would see you if he could, but he is forbidden by ancient laws from interacting, gods may not show favoritism.”

“Even to their own children?”

“Especially them. The gods are only permitted to interfere indirectly. That is why I have come, with a warning, and a gift.” 

She held out her hand and sitting there were five white pearls. 

“I know of your journey to Hades’ realm, and I must warn you that very few have ever managed to escape from there. However, you have a great destiny before you, so your father would not have you die. Therefore take these, and when you are in great need, smash them at your feet.”

“What will that do?” 

She smiled. “It depends on the need, but remember, what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.”

She handed me the pearls and I put them all in my pocket. 

“What was the warning?” 

Light flashed in her eyes. “There are two. First, remember to follow your heart, it will guide you. Hades feeds off of doubt and fear, and he will not want to let you go from his realm easily. Second, be wary of the children you found in the desert. While they are not your enemy, they are dangerous. Be careful.”

With that, she summoned her seahorse and got back on its back, and rode off into the void. I stared at her retreating form for a minute. I wanted to follow her, to follow and see the court of Poseidon, to meet my father. But I looked up and saw the sun setting above the water and knew that there was no time. 

I sighed and pushed back up and swam to the surface. 

When I reached the surface, my clothes dried instantly. I walked up to where the others were sitting. It seemed they got Bianca to accept everything better because she seemed far more relaxed, while Nico was still running around, way over-excited. 

I reached them and told the, everything that had happened and showed them the pearls. 

Annabeth didn't look thrilled. “No gift is free, not even from your own parent.”

“These were free.”

She shook her head. “Just you wait. There is no such thing as a free lunch. It's an old Greek saying that translates pretty well into English. There will be a cost, just you wait.”

With that happy thought in mind, we walked away from the sea. 

We took a bus into West Hollywood and I showed the driver the underworld address from the slip I got at Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium but he said he'd never heard of a DOA Recording Studio. 

“Hey you remind me of someone I saw on tv,” he said to me “you a child actor or something?”

I'm a… stunt double… for a lot of child actors”

“Oh that makes sense”

We thanked him and got off at the next stop. 

We wandered around for miles, looking for DOA Studios, nobody had ever heard of it and it wasn't in the phone book. 

I froze in front of an electronic appliance store at one point because a tv was playing an interview with someone that was very familiar, my step-dad- Smelly Gabe. He was talking to Barbara Walter- I mean as if he was some big celebrity. She was interviewing him in our apartment, in the middle of a poker game it looked like. There was a young blonde lady sitting next to him, patting his hand.

A fake tear glistened on his cheek. “Honest Ms. Walters, if it wasn't for Sugar here, my grief counselor, I'd be a wreck. My stepson took everything I cared about. My wife, my Camaro, I, sorry, I'm just having a hard time talking about it.”

“There you have it America” Barbara Walters turned to the camera, “a man torn apart, an adolescent boy with severe issues, let me show you, again, the last known picture of the young fugitive, taken last week in Denver.”

The screen cut to a grainy shot of me, Annabeth, and Grover outside the diner in Denver with Ares. 

“Who are the other two children in this picture?” Barbara asked dramatically, “who is this man? Is Percy Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps a member of some new religious cult. Up next we sit down with a leading child psychologist, stay tuned America.”

The tv cut to commercial and I had to stop myself from punching through the window of the store. Grover puts his arm around me, maybe to comfort me or calm me down but before he could say anything, Nico popped in front of me, glaring at the television.

“He looks like he smells.” He turned to me. “ how did that guy know who you were Percy? And does he smell? I don't know how that reporter could stand it. I'd probably puke.”  
We all stared at him for a second. Bianca in embarrassment, Grover and Annabeth and horror because they knew I was already upset about Gabe, but for me. I couldn't help it, I just burst out laughing. I laughed so hard I had to sit down for a second. Knowing that someone could tell how awful smelly Gabe was just from a tv interview made me feel better. 

I finally settled down and stood back up and gave Nico a quick hug. “Yeah he does smell, that's what I've always called him. Smelly Gabe. He's my stepfather.”

After that we kept walking, it got dark, and hungry looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. The whole city reminded me of Ares. It wasn't enough for it to just be big, it had to prove that it was big by being loud and strange and hot. 

We hurried past the entrance of an alley when a voice came from the darkness. “Hey kids”

Like an idiot I stopped, and so did everyone else. In seconds we were surrounded by six teenage boys with rich clothes and mean faces. Probably rich boys, just playing at being bad boys. 

Instinctively I uncapped riptide. 

The sight of a sword suddenly appearing made most of the boys back off, but the leader was either very grave or very stupid because he kept advancing. I made a big mistake and I swung my sword, he must have been 100% mortal because the blade just passed right through him. 

He got over his surprise real quick and got angry.

“Run!”

We all shot past the gang and ran through the street, with them right on our heels. Nico took the lead. 

“This way guys! I think we can lose the, around here.”

We took a sharp turn and there it was DOA recording studio. We made a mad dash for the door as it still looked open. I guess death didn't really work regular hours. We threw open the door and ran inside. 

We took a moment to catch our breaths before I looked over at Nico. 

“How the hell did you know where to find this place?”

He shrugged, “I just kind of knew. I don't really know how.”

“Ok. Everyone remember the plan?”

“The plan,” Grover gulped, “oh yeah, I love the plan.”

“And if the plan doesn't work?” Annabeth asked

“Don't be negative.”

She stared at me like I was stupid, which I probably was. We walked up to the guy behind the security desk. When we got there, his eyes scanned us briefly while he started to say  
what seemed like a well-prepared speech.

“Hello, welcome to death. Yes, you are dead, no there hasn't been some kind of mistake, no you may not appeal this decision. The fee for crossing the river is-”

Here he droned off as he stared at Nico and Bianca in something akin to horror. 

“Forgive me, my lord and lady, I didn't recognize you. I will ferry you and your friends across immediately.”

They looked at us in confusion and shrugged, we all looked confused, except for Annabeth, who looked like she just had a hunch confirmed. I wanted to ask what she was  
thinking about, but I didn't think now was the time. 

He walked us over to an elevator and inserted a security card. The doors slid open to reveal a mostly full, larger than usual elevator compartment. We all squeezed in together and the doors closed. We started to descend and we went down for a while. Finally, we seemed to slow a little then I got the weirdest sense of vertigo. It took me a minute to realize that it was because we were no longer going down, but had seamlessly started moving forward.

The walls of the elevator melted away, and we were left standing in a rickety wooden barge. Everyone around us clothes had faded and transitioned into dull gray robes. The security guard, ‘Charon’ Annabeth hissed, was now just a skeleton in a black robe pushing the boat along with a long wooden pole. We were moving through an oily, disgusting looking river. 

“The Styx,” Annabeth whispered in awe, “it's so…”

“Polluted” Charon spoke up for the first time since the lobby. He still kept an eye on the di Angelos who were looking around in shock at their first real encounter with the mythological world, as though they were going to kill him any second, which was silly because he looked like he was already dead. 

“Humans discard their useless dreams and hopes and unfulfilled ambitions here as they pass on to the underworld. It all takes a physical form and gets left here. Some leave more than others, but few have ever left nothing.”

With that, he turned back to the front of the boat and kept silent for the rest of the trip. It took a couple minutes, but we eventually landed on a black beach in a massive cavern.  
Charon let us out and turned to the di Angelos, completely ignoring the rest of us. “I have called for your father's servants, they will be here soon to take you to your father. However, he is not fond of visitors, so there is no guarantee that your friends will make it out of here alive. Especially not that one.”

When he said the last part he jerked his head in my direction and I felt a little offended. I may have a knack for getting into trouble, but I hadn't even done anything wrong here yet. 

The di Angelos didn't seem to understand any of this but nodded their heads anyways. Charon turned his ferry back around and started to make his way back over the river, back to his desk job of a security guard of the dead. 

We started up the beach, following the mass of souls that we had come down with. We didn't get very far before we heard the flap of leathery wings. We looked up and there, above us, came the three furies. Ms. Dodds and her two ugly sisters. Annabeth, Grover and I pulled out our weapons, or aluminum cans in Grover's case, and got ready to fight. They landed a few yards away from us. Ms. Dodds growled a little when she saw us, but her eyes quickly moved on to Nico and Bianca. 

“Children, how in Zeus’ name did you get here? More importantly, how did you leave the hotel? Your father must be informed of this. Come with us.”

Nico and Bianca took a step back from her, I didn’t really blame them. Even if I hadn't had my own run-ins with her before this, I would have been scared. She and her sisters looked like the stereotype of demons with glowing red eyes, fiery whips, leathery wings, and sharp teeth and claws. 

Nico grabbed onto my arm and stood slightly behind me. Ms. Dodds seemed to realize that she was only managing to scare them. Her appearance started to shift, and in her place was Ms. Dodds in a pantsuit and a briefcase. 

“Do you remember me now? This is what I looked like when I left you at the hotel. I am a servant to your father. I won't hurt you. And,” she glanced at me, “I'm not even going to hurt your friends. Your father wants to speak with Poseidon's whelp almost as badly as he wants to see you both. So come, we will take you to your father’s palace.”

We hesitantly walked towards them, still not trusting the top tormentors of the underworld for obvious reasons. They transformed back into their true forms and Ms. Dodds grabbed Nico and Bianca with her talons, while ugly sister one and ugly sister two grabbed Grover, Annabeth, and I.

We flew over what seemed like the largest wheat field ever, and then past an area fenced off with barbed wire, we saw fires burning and heard screams from there. I looked away, I didn't want to know what was down there. 

A few minutes later we came upon a massive black castle. It had an old, gothic look to it, and I could just feel Annabeth’s mind working overtime analyzing the place. We descended to the front doors and the furies let go of us, landed, and proceeded to show us inside. 

We walked into a large throne room that looked more like an old cathedral with a high, vaulted ceiling and was made from black marble. Sitting in a massive throne at the end of the room was the first god I had ever seen that actually looked the part. Twelve feet tall, dressed in a black silk toga, Hades reclined in his throne, watching us approach. 

“So,” his voice was soft but cut clear across the room, sending chills down my spine. “You have not only dared to enter my domain, but you have taken my children from their safe place, and brought them with you.”

Ever since Charon had told them he had called for their father's servants and them the furies showed up, I had suspected that Hades was Nico and Bianca’s father p, but to hear it out loud still surprised me. Nico shifted from behind me where he had been since we landed outside. He poked his head out. 

“Are you my dad?”

Hades looked down at him with a complicated expression on his face before sighing. “Yes, I am your father, Bianca's as well. However, the family history will have to wait for some time. There is the more urgent problem of my younger brothers master bolt as well as my helm.”

Then he turned to me. “Well little mortal, will you open up your backpack for me?” 

I was confused as to why he would ask me to but I nodded. I set the backpack on the ground in front of me and opened it. What I saw in there made me gasp. Nestled in between extra clothes, ambrosia, and some gum, was a celestial bronze cylinder about two feet long that was giving off massive amounts of energy. 

“Ah, the bolt. That which keeps Zeus in power. There are many in this world that would kill thousands for this weapon. How did you come by it little mortal?”

At my confounded and frightened look, he waved his hand at me. 

“I know that it was not you that stole the bolt. I know who stole it, and believe I know who gave it to you. I have eyes and ears everywhere, there is little that happens in this world of any importance without me knowing about it. But I want to know for sure if what I have been told is correct. So who gave you this backpack demigod?” 

“Ares, he gave it to me, it wasn't in there before.” 

Hades nodded as though this was the answer he had been expecting.

“Old powers are stirring. He was convinced to take the bolt from the original thief and instead of return it, use its absence to cause a war. And what's more, he kept my helm for himself.”

I stepped forward, “Lord Hades” I started tentatively, as respectfully as I could because we really needed to be able to leave alive, “I will take this bolt to Olympus and present it to Zeus, and plead for help retrieving your helm. Please allow us to go.”

Hades looked at me, seeming to consider it for a second. Then he shook his head.

“No, I think not little half-blood. While I may know that you didn't steal the bolt or the helm, you did take my children out of the only safe place in the world for them, and you present far too good of a scapegoat. I can, myself take the bolt, tell Zeus that you threatened me with it and that I now return it. Your father will not be able to prove you didn't steal it so he will have to accept it, and you'll be dead, so nobody will ever find out. And besides that, I already have a plan to take back my helm, so what benefit would there be fore me to keep you alive?” 

He said all of this with a serene smile on his face as if we were doing nothing but discussing the weather. Annabeth and Grover looked terrified, while Bianca looked horrified, and Nico, Nico actually looked mad. He was glaring at his dad with undisguised rage.

“Don't you dare!” Hades and I stared at him in shock, neither of us had been expecting an outburst from him. 

“I won't let you kill Percy. You can't. Please, dad, you can't do that.”

Hades studied his son for a moment, letting the full weight of his gaze fall on him. Something seemed to surprise him as he jerked back slightly, then his eyes narrowed before finally, he sighed. 

“Very well, I will allow you to leave with the bolt, I will even give your mother back. But I will only do it on one condition. Nothing is free.”

“What do you want?”

Hades smiled, “I want you to stay here for a while. Not immediately, but I know the record demigods have in schools. So instead of school, you will come here, to the underworld. You will be given tutors in subjects so you don't fall behind, but I want you here. My children will be staying here and it would be nice if they had a friend that was their age to be around. The underworld tends to be depressing for most people.”

I looked over at Annabeth and Grover, both were violently shaking their heads no. Then I looked over at the di Angelos who were staring, awestruck by their father and his demands. I turned back to Hades. 

“I don't-” 

“Perhaps I should remind you what you are playing for.” He snapped his fingers and skeletal guards rushed in and surrounded Annabeth, Grover and I and each raised a gun, ready to fire. Then he snapped again, and a ball of golden fire appeared over his hand. It formed a cage, and inside was my mother. 

I almost started to cry. I had been so worried about her, and to see her there, possibly alive, I could barely control myself. Hades raised his hand, as though to give the order to fire on us.

“I'll do it!” I couldn't stop myself, the words just flew out. “I agree. I will come back for the school year. But I want a stipulation.”

Hades raised an eyebrow at me, but lowered his arm and motioned for me to continue. 

“You want me here during the school year, that's fine, but during any school breaks, Nico, Bianca, and I all get to go back to camp half-blood. You want the, to have friends and allies? Send them there.”

Hades seemed to consider this for a moment. 

“Very well demigod. Them they shall return with you. But know this, I will be there to collect you on the last day of summer. Do not try and escape that.”

I nodded and he sighed. “I am going to send you back to the surface then. My children will join you back at camp, but I must talk to them first.”

With that, he snapped his finger before I could protest that that wasn't a part of the deal. We reappeared on a street corner in front of the Empire State Building. Hades had not only let us go, he had set us right at the edge of the end of our quest. 

We all looked at each other, it had been a long time since we had been in New York. It was time to end this quest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, Hades was way OOC in this chapter. But that's just one of the liberties I'm taking. He is much more considerate towards his children. As to why he made that deal with Percy... well you'll just have to wait and find out. But now Percy is going to be spending a lot of time in the Underworld. How will that go over with his mom and Poseidon? And why would Hades want that?


	3. A Mountain, A Meeting, A Move, A Mother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of the Quest and a little beyond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to comment if you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or just want to tell me I did a good job. I am trying to get to be a better writer, so be patient with me on that front.

Chapter 3   
We walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building and went straight to the front desk. The guy behind the desk was deeply engrossed in a novel with some type of wizard on the front. Annabeth cleared her throat, trying to get the guys attention, but he didn’t react at all. So Grover tried. 

“Um… Excuse me… W-we are trying to get to the 600th floor, please, we need to see Lord Zeus.”

The guy sighed but didn’t put down his book. “There isn’t no 600th floor, and I don’t know who this Zeus. Move along kid.”

Grover looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. Now what I did next probably wasn’t the best idea, but I was getting tired. I was tired of monsters, and gods, and quests, and everything else. I wanted to just go home or back to camp and sleep, and see my mother. 

I stepped in front of Grover and Annabeth and grabbed the guy's book from his hands. His head jerked up and he glared at me.

“Listen, kid, Lord Zeus doesn’t just see every random person that walks in. No appointment, no audience. Sorry, kiddo.”

I put my backpack, which now had the Master Bolt inside again, on the desk and opened it. 

“Look. Do you know what this is?”

The guys eyes widened and he fell back into his chair and nodded.

“Good. Now, do you know who I am?”

Another nod.

“Good. Now, I may not have an appointment with the gods, but I think they’d all very much like to see me, don’t you agree?”

Frantic nodding.

“Wonderful, now, can we go up to the 600th story or will we have to wait for Armageddon to begin for us to be allowed up?” 

The guy nodded at me and handed over a key card with a shaking hand. “Insert this into the security slot. Make sure nobody else is around you.”

I did as he told me. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600. 

I pressed it and waited, and waited. 

Muzak played. "Raindrops keep falling on my head...." Finally, ding. The doors slid open. I stepped out and almost had a heart attack. I was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below me was Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. In front of me, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. My eyes followed the stairway to its end, where my brain just could not accept what I saw. 

Look again, my brain said.

We're looking, my eyes insisted. It's really there. 

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces-a city of mansions-all with white columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippo-drome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins. It was new, and clean, and colorful, the way Athens must've looked twenty-five hundred years ago. 

This place can't be here, I told myself. The tip of a mountain hanging over New York City like a billion-ton asteroid? How could something like that be anchored above the Empire State Building, in plain sight of millions of people, and not get noticed? 

But here it was. And here I was. 

My trip through Olympus was a daze. I passed some giggling wood nymphs who threw olives at me from their garden. Hawkers in the market offered to sell me ambrosia-on-a-stick, and a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece, as seen on Hephaestus-TV The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park while a small crowd gathered-satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good-looking teenagers who might've been minor gods and goddesses. Nobody seemed worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood. Several of them turned to watch me pass, and whispered to themselves. 

I climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld. There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, every-thing glittered white and silver. I realized Hades must've built his palace to resemble this one. He wasn't welcomed in Olympus except on the winter solstice, so he'd built his own Olympus underground. 

I started to feel pretty bad for Hades. He hadn’t actually been that terrible, and to have been banished from a place this beautiful, I would be bitter too. Learning how to take advantage of every situation and every person that I came across. Like he was doing with me. 

Steps led up to a central courtyard. Past that, the throne room.

It was a massive space, it made professional football stadiums look like a little closet. It had large columns leading up to a huge domed ceiling that had moving constellations on it. There were twelve thrones arranged in an inverse u just like the cabins at camp. A huge bonfire sat in the middle, with a large fire crackling in it. All of thrones were empty, except for two at the very end. I didn’t have to guess who the two gods waiting for me were. 

The one on the right, sat in a simple, solid platinum thorne. This was Zeus. He wore a dark blue pinstripe suit. He had a well trimmed beard and a handsome, chiseled, grim face with dark, rainy grey eyes. 

Seated next to him was Poseidon, my father. They were clearly brothers, but he was dressed far differently. He reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman. His hair was black, like mine. His face had that same brooding look that had always gotten me branded a rebel. But his eyes, sea-green like mine, were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told me he smiled a lot, too. 

His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built-in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips. 

The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they'd just finished an argument.

I kneeled before him and bowed my head, “Father,” I said, keeping my tone as respectful as I could. 

Zeus glared down at me. “Should you not address the master of the house first boy? Or do you know not how to show respect?”

My father held up his hand. “Peace brother, he differs first to his father, as is proper.” Then he turned his head to me. “Go ahead my boy, tell lord Zeus what has happened.”

And so I did. I told them everything that had happened. Well… almost everything. There was a little voice in my head telling me not to tell them about Nico and Bianca, so I didn't. As I spoke, I pulled out the master bolt, which sparked even more in Zeus’ presence. At the end of my story he stretched out his hand and the bolt flew into it, growing several times its size until it fit perfectly in his hand. 

“What you have said,” he spoke to me in his deep voice, “is very disturbing. That Ares would purposefully try to cause war…”

“I don't believe he was acting alone, my lords.” They both looked at me in confusion, so I told them about my dream, about the voice from the underworld. 

“So you are, in fact, accusing Hades of the theft then?” Lord Zeus asked, a troubled look on his face. 

“No, sir. The presence felt much different than Hades, older. Lord Hades mentioned that he had felt what he said were ‘old powers stirring’. I don't know what he meant by that, though.” 

My father gave Zeus a sharp look and they started talking in rapid fire Ancient Greek. I only caught a few words, mainly ‘father’ and ‘impossible’. After a few minutes of this dad seemed to suggest something but Zeus angrily shut him down. 

“That is enough Poseidon. I will not speak any more on this matter. I must go and purify my bolt now.” And with that, there was a crack of lightning and he disappeared in a flash of light. 

I was left alone with my dad who was shaking his head. “I always thought he should have been the god of theatre instead.”

Then he sighed and looked down at me. He stepped off of his throne and shrunk down to a normal human height of about 6 feet. He walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. 

“I am sure that you have many questions, but I am unable to answers them. I am only permitted a few more minutes before I must go. But know this my son. I am very proud of you. You have done very well.”

He pulled me into a hug and then stepped back and dissolved into sea spray and I was left standing there on my own. 

I walked back out of the room to where I had left Grover and Annabeth, right outside the doors. I nodded to them and the slumped with relief. 

We walked back to the elevator and descended back to the lobby. I waved at the doorman as we walked out. Waiting outside was Argus in the old, beat-up camp van. We rode back in relative silence, we were all exhausted. We hadn’t slept since the hotel, a day and a half ago and we didn’t feel like celebrating yet. 

About three hours later we finally pulled up to the camp. We all stumbled out of the van and out into the camp. There were campers all around, all shouting questions and greetings and threats (Clarisse). We really just waved them off and trudged back to our cabins and climbed into bed and fell asleep. 

I woke up the next morning, slightly more refreshed and a little more ready to face the day. I stumbled over to the bathroom, took a shower, and got dressed in clean jeans and an orange camp half-blood shirt. I walked out and was about halfway to the dining hall when I was attacked by a blurry black shape. 

I had the weirdest sense of deja vu as I stared up at the ten year old sitting on my chest, grinning like a maniac down at me. Apparently Nico and Bianca had arrived at camp. Nico climbed off of me after a second and helped me stand up. He told me Bianca was still asleep despite his best efforts, that didn’t include water this time, so he decided to go to breakfast on his own. 

We talked the whole rest of the way to the dining pavilion, with me telling him all about a typical day at camp and him excitedly asking questions. Apparently he and Bianca were with the Hermes cabin for now. I nodded at this, I would have to change my schedule to be in more activities with them, they were good friends that I didn’t want to lose.   
When we walked into the pavilion we realized how strangely quiet it was, and everyone's eyes turned on us. Standing there, next to Chiron and Mr. D was my dad, in full greek armor. He spotted us and nodded, before turning back to Chiron, saying a few more things, and then he looked at me and smiled, before dissolving into mist once more.   
Chiron trotted over to me and Nico who seemed determined to follow me to my table.

“Mr. Jackson, first of all, let me congratulate you on a quest well done, not something I often get to say these days. I am afraid that some more pressing issues have come up however, so I will not be able to stay for very long to commend you, I am due on Olympus soon. I have just one other thing to say, your father, in addition to informing me of the meeting, has informed me that he knows of Mr. and Ms. di Angelo's… heritage.”

I stiffened up a little as Nico looked up at me questioningly. He didn’t understand that dislike people had for his father yet. I kept looking forward, defiantly staring into Chiron's eyes.

“Now, before you get too upset, I do not care what one's parentage is, you are all my students and therefore free to stay. However, at Hades request due to safety, as well as a reward for your successful quest, Lord Poseidon has extended hospitality rites to the both of them. They will not get claimed, but they will be free to stay in your cabin, with you. Is that acceptable?”

By the time Chiron had finished, Nico was bouncing up and down with excitement and I could understand why. I kind of wanted to bounce a little too. I was worried Chiron would not allow them to stay, but of course he would. I told him that I would love for them to share a cabin with me. 

Chiron nodded approvingly and smiled at me before trotting away, presumably to Olympus. Nico and I both sat down for breakfast, which thankfully passed without another incident. Bianca had joined us around halfway through and so we told her all that had happened. 

After breakfast we went to the Hermes cabin and collected their small assortment of possessions and moved them into my cabin. Bianca took her own bed, while Nico took the bunk bed above mine. 

We passed through the day pretty regularly, showing Nico and Bianca around, answering questions from every camper there was about what had happened on the quest and why they were staying in my cabin now, and mainly hanging out with Grover and Annabeth.

At the end of the day we all trudged back to our cabin where we all climbed into our own beds and fell asleep. As I was falling asleep I couldn't help but be excited. I was going to be able to spend a week with my mom starting tomorrow, and introduce her to Grover, Nico, Annabeth, and Bianca. I still had to tell her that I was going to live in the underworld for most of the year, but I was working on that. 

We got up the next morning and packed up enough stuff for about a week, and walked out to the giant pine tree. Grover and Annabeth came walking up as well, but I noticed that they didn’t have any bags with them. When I asked the about it they looked at the ground awkwardly.

“You know…” Annabeth began, “Percy we just… we just didn’t feel right. Grover has a meeting with the eldest satyrs to decide his fate, and I still need time to process everything that has happened on the quest and we don’t want to intrude either… so…”

I could tell that they really were pretty broken up about the whole thing. That they wanted to go, but they really just couldn't. And I knew I couldn’t make myself force them to come, so I told them that it was cool, and that I’d see them when we got back. 

A few minutes later, Argus drove up in the van and we all piled in, and we started driving. We got to my mom’s apartment around noon and walked on in. I had somehow managed not to lose the key throughout the whole ordeal. When I opened the door, I realized this had been a bad idea. There, sitting with his fat poker buddies, was Smelly Gabe. In my excitement I had completely forgotten about him.

Something was off about them, though. They weren’t moving, at all. Almost like statues. I walked up to Gabe and waved my hand in front of his face. No response. 

“Mom!” I yelled, getting a little worried that my mother might once again be in harm's way.

“In the kitchen Percy”

I almost collapsed with relief when I heard her voice, but it sounded slightly strained, so I motioned for Nico and Bianca to follow me and we stepped into the kitchen where a large surprise was waiting with a cup of tea. And by surprise I mean god. And by god I mean Hades. 

My mother, to her credit didn’t look too terribly put off by the lord of the dead sitting at our kitchen table, sipping tea, looking as if nothing unusual was going on. 

“What are you doing here dad?”

Of course, it was Nico to completely ignore any possible tensions building in the room and just go in. Hades smiled down at him.

“Oh, I’m having a lovely cup of tea and a chat with Perseus’ mother, Sally here. We were about to discuss Perseus and I’s little arrangement for the school year.”

When he said that my mother looked up at me confused. I sighed, knowing that anything I had planned to say was now ruined, and the truth was the only option. So I sat down and started talking. I told her not just about what Hades was talking about, but of the entire quest, from her disappearing to me walking in the door. WHen I was done, she had silent tears running down her face. She stood up and hugged me.

“Oh my baby, to think that you had to go through all of that. I’m so sorry, if I had told you sooner then maybe…”

“No,” surprisingly it was Hades that interrupted, “You did the right thing, the good thing. As a parent it is your obligation to look after your child the best way you can, and you did that. Now the deal Perseus and I have struck will change very little. Think of it less of going to hell, and more of going to a hyper-elite private school on a full scholarship.”   
I made a face, private schools were not my thing. Ok so maybe it is just going to hell for some, but he will be back for regular holidays, so nothing will have changed. You have the gift of clear sight, do you not see what I can see? How important it is that he stay and learn the most he can?”

To my astonishment, my mother nodded. “Yes, I can. And I agree. While I wish it wasn’t in the underworld, that will make things easier, and he could have the best tutors, and the matter must be taken care of anyways so… Very well. I will allow it.”

“Excellent!” Hades stood up. “Well, I will be by to pick you up at the end of the summer kids, do try not to die before then you three. Good bye.” As he talked, the shadows in the kitchen stretched to form around him, and then he was gone.

My mother took a moment before turning to us. “Well,” she said, putting on her nicest smile, “What do you say we bake some cookies and get to know each other a little better.”

And with that, Hades was forgotten, and so was the fact that we would walk into the livingroom later, and mysteriously Smelly Gabe and his poker friends would have disappeared, never to be seen again. 

I watched as my mom talked to Nico about her secret recipe for cookies, while Bianca walked around, gathering ingredients for her. Oh yeah, the rest of the summer was going to be a lot of fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next chapter will deal with Luke's betrayal, no I haven't forgotten about that, as well as a lot of the coming year and how Percy and the di Angelos get along in the Underworld. Also, this story will probably end up being a lot of fluff, using the guise of the books, to just get Nico and Percy together, but I will endeavor to make it so that isn't the only thing that happens. Also, they won't get together for a little while. Nico is only ten. It'll be about Titan's Curse that they really get together, but there might be some moments in Sea of Monsters... Who Knows?   
> Also, no Sally didn't just randomly decide to trust Hades. There is a very good reason that she lets Percy go. I can't tell you what it is yet, it'll have to wait for several chapters, but I have a good reason for it, I promise.


	4. I Get Betrayed And Then I Move Into One Hell Of A Place

Five days later, we finally had to go back to camp. Gabe had mysteriously disappeared when Hades left so it had been a nice, restful week. Mom packed us a box of cookies for us to take back and, after a lot of hugs and “take care of yourself”’s we finally all packed into a cab, Bianca up front and Nico and me in the back. We talked some on the way back but not a whole lot. Nico was still trying to teach me the rules of Mythomagic and was quizzing me on card values and attacks, and I had no clue what was going on. 

After about an hour of that, he finally let me be and we began to talk about camp. I Was about halfway through telling them both about my encounter with Clarisse in the bathrooms when we pulled up to the base of the hill at camp. 

We thanked the cab driver through tears from laughing too hard and handed him the fare. Then we walked up to the pine tree and over the barrier. 

The first thing we did was go and set our stuff back in my cabin before we headed off to go see Chiron. Once we got there and checked in with him, letting him know we were back, we left again. We went back to the cabin and sat down. It was already two in the afternoon so I decided to let us have a free day all day. Bianca took off to the archery range as soon as I said that throwing a brief “thanks, Perce” over her shoulder. 

Nico and I looked at each other for a minute before bursting out laughing. We finally went out and started doing some things around camp. We started by swimming, and canoeing, those being my best activities, we went to the arena and watched some fighting for a little while, and finally it was just before dinner. 

After dinner, we all started to walk back towards our cabin. I saw a light off to the side of the cabins and I decided to go look and see what it was. You weren't really allowed to have fires besides ones for reusing and the bonfire. When I got there I saw Luke kneeling in front of the fire. It looked like he was talking to it. 

He must have heard me walk up because he spun around, his hand going to his sword which hung in his belt. When he saw that it was me he smiled at me and waved. He put out the fire and walked up to me. 

“Hey Perce! Great job on your quest.”

“Thanks. I'm just glad to be back safe and sound at camp.”

Something flashed through Luke's eyes, but I couldn't tell what it was. He nodded. 

“Yeah, I can understand that. Hey, you wanna go for a walk? I got some cokes."

When he said that he pulled out two cans of coca-cola, real coke, in the can and everything, from the bag he had with him. I nodded and he tossed me one and we started walking. We were headed in the direction of the lake I noticed. We were a couple yards away from the lake when Luke stopped. 

“Percy, But you about your quest” he seemed to hesitate. “I'm sorry that it had to happen.”

I shrugged. “Me too. But I'm just glad it ended up working out.”

Luke shook his head. “No, Percy, it actually didn't. If you hadn't gone in the quest it would have been fine. If you hadn't met those kids along the way, it would have been But you did. And it's not fine."

I was starting to get confused. I mean, I averted world war three right? And there was nothing wrong with the di Angelos. What was Luke talking about?

“Look, I'm sorry about all this. I wish it had happened differently. I really like you, Percy. You're a great kid and you had a great life ahead of you. It's just. Well, I can't let you keep going on.”

I saw his hand move but didn't realize what had happened. I didn't feel any pain, just shock. Embedded in my stomach was a celestial bronze dagger. I gasped for air as I fell to my knees. 

Luke knelt down with me before sighing. “I hope you get the afterlife you should. But you got in my way too many times this summer. I can't let you live.” He unsheathed his sword and raised it as though to cut down on me but then we both heard a scream. Luke's head shot over to whoever had screamed and got up. I don't know what happened after that because I blacked out. 

When I woke up it was to a familiar room. I looked around a little before recognizing where I was. It was the same room in the Big House that I had stayed in when I first got here. I struggled to get up, I had adages wrapped all around my stomach and it hurt to move too much. 

I had finally sat up when I heard a gasp next to me. Sitting in a chair next to the bed, looking every bit like he had just woken up, was Nico. 

“Percy! You're ok!” He grabbed me and hugged me hard. My vision blurred as pain wracked my body. He must have noticed because he immediately backed off. 

“Sorry, I was just really worried about you. You've been asleep for a couple of days.”

A couple of days? Had it been that bad? 

“What happened to me?” 

I had been trying to remember why exactly I was injured in the first place. I remembered getting stabbed, but I couldn't remember by who. I had just been with Luke, I remembered that too. He fire and the cokes, but other than that, nothing. 

“Luke attacked you, Percy. I noticed that you had disappeared on our way back to the cabin so I went looking for you and I heard you and Luke in the woods near the lake. I was just about to go when I saw him take out a knife and stab you I screamed and he ran away. Chiron knows everything that happened so you won't have to talk in depth about it with him. We haven't been able to find Luke yet, and Chiron and Mr. D thinks he's long gone.”

I sat there, silent. Had Luke really attacked me? I didn't want to believe it but why would Nico lie to me? I moved to get out of bed but Nico pushed me back down. 

“No. Percy you aren't strong enough yet. I'll go tell the others you are awake. We've all been... taking turns watching you.”

That last part was directed at his shoes, but I didn't pay a whole lot attention to that. I had gotten used to him doing that. He did it a lot when he talked to me.   
He dashed out of the room and within minutes I was swarmed by Annabeth, Grover, Bianca, Nico, and an Apollo camper named Will who was checking my bandages and trying to get everyone else out.

After a while, and some nectar and Ambrosia, I was finally allowed to leave, with strict instructions to rest for at the very least a week and come and get seen at the infirmary every day. I nodded, eager to get out and then finally I was free. 

The rest of the summer passed pretty easily after that. It was hard some days, to see the Hermes cabin without Luke, but they seemed to do fine. The days passed in a haze of sword fights, capture the flag, and deadly rock walls. Finally, on the last night of camp, we had a final bonfire. Nico, Bianca, and I sat together with Annabeth and Grover coming by every once in a while you were apparently supposed to stay with your cabin for the most part during this campfire. 

We all sang old camp songs and finally, the beads and leather necklaces were passed out. On the bead was a small lightning bolt, representing my quest. I smiled brightly when I saw it. A lot had changed because of that quest. I had left the camp feeling alone and scared. And now I had at least four people I knew were good friends of mine and was still scared. But less scared, so that was an improvement. 

On the last day of camp, true to his word, as everyone else was leaving, Hades showed up. He did me and his kids the favor of appearing in the Big House and not terrifying the campers, though. Chiron came and got us and told us that our ride was here. We hugged Annabeth and Grover who had been hanging out with us while we waited to leave. 

“We’ll see you next year you guys!” I yelled as we walked behind Chiron. 

“Later seaweed brain. See you again next summer you guys”

“See you Perce! See you all soon”

We walked into the Big House’s living room where the lord of the dead was sitting with his legs crossed. He stood up when he saw us enter the room. 

“Hello children, hello Perseus. Are you all ready?”

We all nodded, Nico a little more enthusiastically than me or Bianca. How a bubbly kid like him could enjoy the darkness of the underworld I did not understand. Hades stretched his hand out towards  
us and the shadows in the room grew like they had in my kitchen earlier in the summer. 

When the shadows reached us, cold washed over me and I heard the wind screaming past. I was like nothing I had ever experienced or wanted to experience again. When the wind stopped and the darkness receded I fell onto my knees coughing and hacking. Nico started to laugh at my reaction. Hades too smirked a little at how poorly I had handled that. 

After a little bit, I finally was able to get a hold of myself and look around. It was the throne room that we had been in almost two months earlier where I had made my deal. 

After a few minutes, Hades finally clapped his hands and the doors to the room opened and a skeletal butler walked in. “Children, I need to speak with Percy alone for a few minutes, please. This is Gregory, he’ll show you to your rooms And around the palace. I will be pretty busy today but I will eat dinner with you tonight.” 

Nico and Bianca looked confused but nodded their heads and followed the butler. Nico threw a worried look in my direction but I smiled, trying to give him the confidence I certainly didn't feel right now. The doors shut behind them and Hades turned towards me. 

“Now, Perseus. As I said, you will be here for the school year, out for summers and breaks alone.”

I nodded, I had been thinking about this deal all summer.   
“However, and do forgive me, but I do not fully trust my brother's children. So.” Hades waved his hand and a table with a silver platter appeared behind him. On it rested nine pomegranate seeds. 

“If it's not too much trouble I would like to make doubly sure you cannot back out of this deal.”

I looked at the seeds warily. I knew this story. Annabeth had warned me many times about the dangers of food from the underworld. One bite and you could be kept there forever.   
Hades must have seen my trepidation. “Now don't worry, I can undo the spell of the food of the underworld any time, and since there is only nine, it would only keep you here for most of the year. And besides that, I've modified the spell in these so that you can leave if you are with one of my kids.”

I stood there staring at the seeds. This made everything so real. I would be living in the underworld for three-quarters of the year.

“Do not forget your promise demigod,” Hades spoke from behind me. “If it will help then I swear on the river Styx that I have no ill intentions towards you or any other demigods in the making of this deal. Happy?”

His oath reassured me more. I knew that wasn't an oath that you could break. So before I would let myself reconsider or hesitate I picked them up and ate them. They were the weirdest food I had ever had. I ate them all in one go and then looked back at Hades. 

“Excellent. Now that that is take care of, I will call for Gregory again and he will show you around the palace.” He snapped his fingers and then turned around on his heel and   
walked back towards his throne. 

The doors opened again and Gregory walked in and motioned for me to follow him. I was about to walk out of the doors when Hades called to me. 

“Perseus, welcome to the underworld. I hope you'll enjoy your stay.” 

Then the doors slammed shut. 

 

Extra bit, because I wanted to try and explain why Percy is now living in the underworld. This should explain why Hades made the deal and why Sally let Percy go. 

 

Third person view

As the doors closed behind Percy, Hades slumped in his throne. His life had just gotten more complicated. Ever since that boy had walked into his throne room with that damnable…

Sudden laughter filled the room. A cloud of pink came from nowhere and when it cleared, Aphrodite stood there. 

“Hello Hades, how are you doing?”

Hades growled. “This is all your fault. You did this to my son and that boy.”

Aphrodite shrugged. “I couldn't resist. They weren't even supposed to meet in that Casino. I had it planned for unrequited love, a nice story with a happy ending for both… eventually. But something changed and they met. And when I saw them there, I couldn't help myself. I love heart break but perfect love is better. I'm glad you didn't kill him.”

Hades sighed. “How could I? When I saw that arrow on both the boy and my son, I knew what had happened. You bound their souls. If Percy was to be killed, Nico would suffer greatly. That is a rare gift you gave them.” 

Aphrodite smiled up at Hades, “yes it was, now let's hope it was worth my effort.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, to clarify on that last little bit. Aphrodite saw Percy and Nico together in the hotel and shot them with an arrow. These are different from Cupid's arrows because it ties the soul together, essentially making them a kind of soul mates. Hades could see the marks of these arrows when Percy and Nico came to the throne room and knew he couldn't kill Percy. That is why he made the deal. And Sally could also see the marks and that is why she let them go. Hope that helps, message me if you have any questions.


	5. Now I Live, But Live in Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points if you know where the title is a reference from.

I followed Gregory through the halls, not really paying attention as I went. Finally, after a few minutes of walking, we go to what I assumed was my room. Gregory opened it and suddenly I was on the floor. This was beginning to be a regular thing. 

I looked up and, there was Nico, sitting on me. Again. The kid never seemed to run out of energy and seemed to think that that would never get old. He was a little too heavy to move though so I just laid there and let him talk. 

“Oh, my gosh Percy! You'll never believe it! Our rooms are huge, probably bigger than the casino! And the palace is so big too! And we get to go wherever we want in it! And we have undead people to teach us school and fighting! And all our rooms are next to each other an-” mercifully Bianca put a hand on his shoulder, quieting him down and seemingly reminding him of where he was. He looked down at me, finally realizing that he was on top of me and scrambled off, his face red with what I assumed was embarrassment. 

It didn't take long for him to recover though as he jumped on top of my bed and started telling me all about the place. Apparently, all of our rooms were next to each other with Nico in the middle and having doors that connected to mine and Bianca’s rooms. He kept on going, talking ninety miles a minute. About all the cool skeletons and dead people, he had seen and wanted to see. About getting to play mythomagic with people that were actually in the cards. And most of all, about getting to live with his dad. 

Bianca sat next to him and smiled as he jabbered on and on and on. Clearly, she was just as happy, but she didn't want to interrupt Nico’s joy. We sat there for a little while, Nico and Bianca in the bed, me lounging in an enormous bean bag chair that was in the room. As we listened to Nico ramble on I took stock of what was in the room. 

Nico wasn't kidding when he said it was bigger than the rooms at the casino, the room was bigger than my entire apartment back home. I had a king sized bed, currently occupied so I hadn't gotten on it yet, a couple chairs laid out around the room, an enormous flat screen tv with what looked like a game cabinet beneath it, I'd have to check that out later. There was a desk on one wall of the room with a new looking laptop sitting on top of it. The whole room was done tastefully in black with dark, sea-green accents. Clearly, the room was made for me. 

Nico was halfway through describing the ballroom that they had passed through when there was a knock at the door. We all fell silent and I got up and opened the door. Standing there, in a casual dress was who had had to be Persephone, queen of the underworld. 

She cut a glance to Nico and Bianca and seemed to glare at them for a second before shaking herself a little and her gaze softened. “Hello, children. I'm Persephone, your step-mother. It's nice to meet you.” 

Then she turned to me, “and it is nice to meet you as well Perseus Jackson. I have heard what my husband had you do when you got down here and so I wanted to discuss it with you. Do you mind if Nico and Bianca know?”

I shook my head. If we were going to be living here for a while, they might as well know that I couldn't leave. 

Persephone nodded her head and took a seat in an armchair made of roses and daisies and other flowers I didn't know the name of that hadn't been there a second ago.

“Now as I am sure all of you know, the fruit of the underworld is enchanted. Most people say cursed, but I prefer enchanted. Now, contrary to popular belief, the pomegranate fruits enchantment is not something that can be forced upon someone. They must either want to or be willing to stay in the underworld for the seeds to work. And it cannot be through force that they want to stay. So, Perseus, I can only assume that you actually really wanted to stay here in the underworld, because I can feel that the fruit worked on you.”

That surprised me, I mean sure, with the di Angelos there, I wasn't completely averse to staying in the underworld, but I didn't think that I had actually really wanted to stay here. 

Persephone continued, barely noticing my confusion. “Now my husband said that he had modified the enchantment a little bit so that you could leave with Nico and Bianca by your side. Specifically that you only need one of them with you to leave. There is, however a caveat, you must, at all times be touching them in some way. It requires physical contact to work. Other than that, if you do leave, you will go through excruciating pain that will only cease when you return to the underworld. Same thing if you let go of one of the children when you leave with them. Now, that's really about all and dinner should be ready soon, so any questions?” 

We all looked at each other, we had questions alright, but too many to really voice right then. Persephone must have taken our silence as a no because she clapped her hands and Gregory reappeared. 

“Gregory, please escort the children to dinner. I will be joining them shortly.”

With that, she melted into a pile of flower petals. Gregory beckoned for us to follow him so we did. We wound through the endless halls of the palace again before finally coming into a large dining hall.

A large table was stretched across the entire span of the room but there was only five chairs, all at the far end of the table. Two of them were filled already by Hades and Persephone. Nico, Bianca, and I all took our seats next to them. Bianca sitting next to her mother on Hades’ left and Nico and I sitting on his right. A few skeletal servants walked in carrying food with them and set it down in front of us. 

There was a lot of food set down and I noticed that there were several plates with blue colored food on them. Apparently my mom had told Hades about my blue food obsession. We passed the meal in relative quiet, everyone only speaking up briefly when they needed something passed to them from across the table. 

When we had finished eating the skeletons came back and took away the remaining food. Hades looked at each of us in turn for a moment before sighing. 

“Now that you are all going to be staying here, I have an obligation to ensure that you are all well educated in every matter that could ever come up as important. We have the remarkable benefit, however, of having the best tutors in absolutely everything available to us at any time. So, beginning tomorrow you will have classes. Each day you will attend three different classes, and each day the classes you attend will be different ones. You will study things like sword fighting, science, mathematics, ancient greek history, ancient greek, and a variety of other things as well. Understood?”

We all nodded our heads yes, each for a different reason. Bianca’s seemed to be out of a general interest to learn, Nico just looked like an overexcited bobble head and I am pretty sure he would have agreed to just about anything right now, and mine was mainly out of fear. I may have been ok with staying down here with the di Angelos, but Hades still scared the life out of me, almost literally. 

He nodded once at our approval and stood. “Meet back here tomorrow at 8:00 for breakfast, then you will be taken to your classes. Good night.” 

And with that Hades swept out of the room back to deal with more king of the dead stuff I guess. Persephone had stood up right as he walked out of the door and sighed in his direction as if he had just done something that she had said was a bad idea but knew he was going to do anyways. 

“Well children,” she said, turning to face us. “You heard my husband. Gregory will lead you back to your rooms. Have a good night.” 

And with that, she too walked out of the room.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning I woke up to see Nico jumping up and down on my bed, yelling for me to wake up. Bianca was standing at the foot of the bed trying to stifle her laughing and doing a pretty bad job of it. 

“Come on Percy! Wake up! It’s time to go eat! And then we get to train, and go to class, I’m not really excited about class, but I get to learn how to use a sword, and a bow and arrow, and a knife, and isn’t that so cool?!”

I groaned and sat up. Nico kept jumping even then so I grabbed his ankle and pulled him down so he fell on the bed. 

“Settle down you little monster. I’m up.”

Nico laughed and hopped down off my bed. 

“Give me just a second guys,” I said as I got out of bed. “Let me get some clothes on and I will be out so we can go to breakfast. Ok”

Nico started to pout but Bianca put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him out of the room. “Got it Perce, we’ll be outside.” Then she pulled the door closed behind her and Nico.

I sighed and went over to my closet. Hades had apparently gone all out in trying to make all three of us comfortable while we were here. Amongst all of my regular clothes were brand name jeans and shirts, the likes of which my mom and I could never have afforded. I avoided grabbing those and grabbed some of my regular clothes and threw them on. 

Bianca and Nico were both standing out in the hallway in front of my room with Gregory Standing in front of them, waiting to lead us to breakfast. I nodded to him and he started walking towards the hall where we had eaten last night. When we got there, the large table that had been there the night before had disappeared and in its place was a small round table with three plates sitting on it.

We all sat down and starting eating. About halfway through us eating the doors swung open and in strode Persephone. She walked over to the table and created another chair for herself out of flowers and sat down. 

“Good morning children. Hades sent me down here to tell you about what you are going to be doing today. As soon as you finish eating you will get to classes. Unfortunately for you all, it’s going to be a lot of regular school things and not a lot of weapons training.”

She noticed all of our faces falling a bit at that and laughed. “Don’t worry though, we thought you should at least be able to start with a fun lesson, so may I introduce you to your first sword fighting tutor.”

As she said this the doors opened again and a young man in ancient greek armor strode in with a sword at his side. Persephone stood up and looked down to where we were sitting. 

“Percy, Nico, Bianca, meet the original Perseus, son of Zeus, and he is going to be your sword fighting tutor.”


	6. The Rest of the Year and a Crappy Camp Comeback

The rest of the year went by pretty quickly. It all passed by in a blur of long dead tutors and agonizing lessons in prose and quadratic equations. We had only about one sword fighting lesson a week and that was not nearly enough to overcome the boredom of the rest of the week. 

We had gone back to my mom's for a week at Christmas but it very quickly became a very interesting week. I still had to be in constant contact with either Nico and Bianca at all times or I was in for some serious pain. For the most part, I had stayed hand in hand with Nico all week. I could get about half an hour without contact before any discomfort so showering and anything like that wasn't awkward. 

We did end up having to sleep next to each other. It wasn’t so bad, Nico liked to grab onto something while he was sleeping and I was a pretty easy thing to grab onto. Only once or twice had I woken up in pain because he had let go at some point in the night. Things like eating and playing games ended up being harder than we had anticipated, but we got through it. 

Opening presents Christmas morning had probably been the hardest part out of all of it, but after a little bit of awkwardness, we had managed a solution. The only really odd part was that Nico never seemed to want to look at me for any period of time. He seemed to be actively avoiding eye contact with me for the entire week. Which, I will admit, was impressive considering the fact that we were almost literally attached at the hip the entire week.

Bianca seemed to find this hilarious and kept smirking at Nico every time we walked anywhere. She seemed to know something I didn’t but anytime I tried to ask her about it, Nico would violently drag me away to do something else. I dropped it after the first two times in the interest of getting to keep my arm attached to my body. 

Other than that week though, very little out of the ordinary had happened, well as ordinary as living in hell could get I guess. There were considerably fewer monster attacks, and by that I mean none. Which makes sense, what monster would actually try and attack demigods that were protected by the god of death himself.

The last week we were there, there were no classes for us to go to. Hades had decided, with considerable prodding from Persephone no doubt, to give us the week off. We were allowed to just hang out and goof off around the enormous palace we had called home for nine months. We watched a ton of movies, pulled pranks on some of the resident ghosts and skeletons, and one time played hide and seek around the palace. After Nico hid so well that we couldn’t find him for over three hours though, we decided not to play that again.

Finally, on our final day we were called into Hade's throne room, the only room we had not been allowed in since our first day there. Hades was sitting on his throne in his full twelve-foot form,   
black toga and all. 

“Hello kids, this, as I am sure you are aware, is your final day here in the underworld. So, I have a few final things to tell you.” He turned to look Bianca in the eyes. 

“First, my daughter. You have proven your skill with daggers, so to you I give these.” He clapped his hands together and a pedestal of black stone rose up in front of Bianca. Sitting on top were two beautiful, pure black daggers. “These are crafted out of Stygian Iron, a metal only my children are able to wield. Be careful, for even one touch of the blade can remove a soul. Next, a piece of advice for you, some day soon, a god will offer you a deal, think carefully before you decide on it and know that I will always be proud of you.”

Bianca bowed her head to her father and grabbed the daggers of the pedestal. 

“Next, to my son. Nico, you will be one of my strongest children I have ever had. Be proud of this. And for you too, I have a gift.”

Once again Hades clapped his hands and another pedestal rose out of the ground and lying on top of it was a beautiful sword. It looked a lot like Riptide to me, but it, like Bianca's daggers, was completely black, except with a silver wire wound into the grip. 

“This too is made of Stygian iron, once again, you must be careful with it. And son,” Nico looked up at him, “Be patient. What you wish for will come.”

Nico grinned so wide after that that I half thought his face might actually split in half. I had no idea what they were talking about though, it looked like Bianca did though as she smiled at Nico.  
“And finally, Perseus Jackson. My gift to you, Perseus, you will not understand for many years to come. But when the time comes, it will be a valuable gift.”

He clapped his hands one last time and a pedestal rose up in front of me. Sitting there was a box about two feet long and a foot wide. It was a black stone box with a green stone that looked like emerald inlaid into it. What was missing, however, was a way to open it. There was no lock or seams anywhere on the box to show that even could be opened.

I glanced up at Hades with a silent question, what the hell?

Hades laughed at my confusion. “Do not worry Perseus. When you need it most, the box will open for you.”

He sat back in his throne and clapped his hands once more and all three of the pedestals sunk back into the ground. Then he waved his hands and the doors to the throne room opened and in flew the three furies.

“Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone will take you back to camp. Now if you will all go pack and be back here in two hours, we will get you on your way.”

With that clear dismissal, we all walked out and headed to our rooms. Once we had gotten there we quickly threw our clothes into our bags and got ready to leave. We couldn’t wait to get back to camp and start being able to train every single day again. Once I had gotten all my stuff together I walked into Nico’s room. We had all agreed to sit in here and hang out once we were done until it was time for us to leave. 

Nico was desperately trying to shove all of his mythomagic cards and assorted accessories into his suitcase and it really wasn’t working. I put my stuff up on his bed and then sat down on the floor with him to try and help him. By the time Bianca joined us in his room I had managed to convince Nico to leave all but his best cards behind and get on to packing his clothes.   
Bianca sat on Nico’s bed and laughed as I tried to get Nico to cooperate and get his clothes in his suitcase. We had about twenty minutes left when we were all finally packed. We decided to go ahead and walk towards the throne room early. As we walked there, we talked about what we wanted to do when we got back to camp.

Nico was excited to get back to the camp and be around even more mythology than we were now. Bianca was ready to get back to her archery lessons, she was determined to be good at it. As a result, she had forced Nico and me to participate in many archery lessons which, consequently, led to a lot of time spent mocking me for my inability to get anything to go straight no matter how hard I tried. 

For my part, I was just excited to get out of the dull drone of classes. The novelty of living in a mythological palace faded quickly when all you did was go to math class, even if your teachers were the guys that invented math. 

We finally reached the throne room again with all of our things. Standing there, waiting for us, was Persephone and the three Furies. 

“Hello, children,” Persephone said, stepping forward to give each of us a hug. “It has been wonderful having you all here this summer. I will admit I had my reservations at the beginning, but I am very glad you all joined us for the year and will join us again next year.”

She took a step back and nodded at the furies who each walked behind us. 

“Your things will be waiting in your cabin when you get there. Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera will be taking you there from Orpheus’ entrance to the Underworld. I will see you all back here in September.”

The Furies flew into the air and then lowered and grabbed onto our shoulders and lifted us off. They flew out of the palace and over the fields of Asphodel. As they went they could see in the distance the glow of the fields of punishment and in the other direction could see the large gated community of Elysium. They flew past the line of souls, all waiting for judgment after death.   
We continued down the river Styx for a little bit before the began to slow down. Above them, a hole opened and sunlight began to pour in. The Furies flew us up through the hole one at a time. When we emerged we came out in the middle of Central Park. We turned towards Long Island and we were off. It only took us about twenty minutes with as fast as the furies could fly, they dropped us off about a mile before the camp. 

“This,” Alecto said once they had all set us down. “Is as far we can take you without getting attacked or raising undo questions. No monsters should bother you though, our scent is enough to frighten them off long enough for you to reach camp. Goodbye young master's, son of the sea god.” 

And with that, they took off into the sky again. Within a minute they were out of sight and we were on our way to camp. It only took us about fifteen minutes to walk to the base of Half-Blood Hill. When we got there, though, we could see that something was wrong. The top of the hill was lit up with fire and we could hear the sounds of a battle raging at the top of the hill.   
We ran up to the top of the hill and there, battling with the campers were two huge bronze bulls that were on fire. We started to run close but very quickly the heat became too much for us. We stayed back as far as we could watching as a large group of campers in full gear attacked the bulls furiously. I hated not being able to do anything but, with the fires that hot I couldn’t get close, I couldn’t imagine how the other campers were managing it without dying.

Soon both bulls lay defeated in front of the campers. The two lead campers walked forward and then turned to face the other campers. 

“Border patrol, return to your rounds!” I would have recognized that voice anywhere, Clarisse was one of the two lead campers. But what confused me was the border patrol. The camp didn’t have a  
border patrol. 

We all walked up to the two lead campers to see what was going on. When we got there and Clarisse saw us, well more specifically me, and huffed and stalked away without a word. She still had not gotten over the bathroom incident from last year. The other camper reached up and took off their helmet. A blonde ponytail and stormy grey eyes appeared from beneath the helmet. 

It was Annabeth.

She grinned at me and hugged me before looking over at Bianca and Nico and greeting them. 

“Hey, Annabeth, what’s going on here? How could those bulls get into camp? And since when does the campe have a border patrol?”

Annabeth sighed, suddenly her face looked a lot more tired than it had a second ago. “You’ve been away for a while Percy. A lot has changed.”

I looked over at Nico and Bianca who shrugged, clearly as clueless as me. “What could have happened to change this much at camp?”

Annabeth didn’t answer, she just pointed behind us. We all turned around. Nico gasped at what we saw and honestly, so did Bianca and I. 

Every camper knew the story behind the tree. Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, Luke and another demigods named Thalia had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy. 

But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap. 

A sliver of ice ran through my chest. Now I understood why the camp was in danger. The magical borders were failing because Thalia's tree was dying. 

Someone had poisoned it.


End file.
